Another Slanted Times-CBS Poll

Frederick Van Bennekom, a FutureOfCapitalism community member who is a professional survey design expert at Great Brook, sends some thoughts on the latest New York Times-CBS News poll:

Notice how the pollsters' world views on these two questions affected the questions they asked.

19. From what you have read or heard, does Mitt Romney have the right kind of business experience to get the economy creating jobs again or is Romney's kind of business experience too focused on making profits?

20. Which comes closest to your view of Barack Obama's economic policies: 1. They are improving the economy now, and will probably continue to do so, OR 2. They have not improved the economy yet, but will if given more time, OR 3. They are not improving the economy and probably never will.

In Question 19, they present the false choice of business experience as focusing on either jobs or profits -- a favorite liberal theme, which is exactly the theme that Democrats want to present. Businesses do not choose either jobs or profits. It shows an incredible lack of understanding of how businesses function. We see a similar line from liberals, including the media, that all these corporations are sitting on a pile of cash and are "refusing" to hire people.

A business hires someone if they feel the value delivered to the organization will exceed the fully loaded cost of employing the person. It's really that fundamental. While it's unlikely a company can measure the direct value to the bottom line of a single employee or even a group — except perhaps for the sales force — that is what companies decide in the budgeting process. If the cost of employment exceeds the value, bottom line profit decreases.

Business don't exist to create jobs. Jobs are a by-product, albeit a very important by-product, of a successful, profitable company. Here's the empirical proof that we all know. Ever heard of an established unprofitable company that is hiring lots of people?

Note that in Question 20, the pollsters don't even offer choice 4. Obama's economic policies are hurting the economy. Yet, 1% in Florida apparently took the initiative to voice that option, and to the pollsters' credit they captured it. Doesn't "Obama's economic policies" include the issue of regulatory burden? Apparently, not to these pollsters. They only think that economic policies can help the economy or be benign.

In summary, these two questions show the bias that the pollsters bring to their polling.